Should Neil have dropped out of the play when his father told him to drop out ?

 I suppose he should have dropped the play if he wished to stay at Welton Academy. Neil's subservience to his father was part of his role in life only to be broken if he was willing to pay the consequences. Being withdrawn from Walton and enrolled in military school was unacceptable to Neil. Really, what is unacceptable is suicide. Neil was just too passionate and impulsive to realize that at the time.